An outlandish resource hub of podcasts, essays, comics, magazines, TED talks, movies and others of that ilk to keep you hooked
Hey y'all,
Life is running on wheels for me - constant preoccupation to get on to the next task on my calendar, check to-do's, worry about the uncertain and living with the fact that war is a possibility in 2022 is just absurd.
The only place of solace I find is in content that reshapes my perceptions (besides my therapist) and rejuvenates my mood along with a sprinkle of something new to learn every day.
The Hummingbird issues will (mostly) be arriving in your mailbox fortnightly now (cuz I am bogged down with lots of studying) but you will get your dose of one content piece each day for the next 15 days until I see you again.
1. How To Be Resilient: 5 Steps To Success When Life Gets Hard by Eric Barker (Essay)
An essay on how to relish stress even in it's worst form, how to rewiring our brains to not take stress as a red flag and how to keep going.
Eric Barker has outdid himself again in this essay (something that I thought about all week whenever I was procrastinating).
Read to find out some pressing insights on the upsides of stress and how to garner it to the best use.
Mood is not homogeneous like cream soup. It is more like Swiss cheese, filled with holes. The triggers are highly specific, tripped by sudden trails of memory: a faint fragrance, a few bars of a tune, a vague silhouette that tapped into a sad memory buried deep, but not completely erased. -- Esther Stenberg
2. Vineeta Singh on Figuring Out with Raj Shamani (Podcast)
Shark Tank Season 1 was a blast. Getting people familiar with all the rudimentary financial terms is probably the best thing that happened on Indian television.
This was the first episode I heard on Raj's podcast and it was super inspiring to learn more about Vineeta's journey.
Kaushik shared a framework on how to charter your journey to being 'in the right place at the right time' and that was my fav. part from the podcast.
Listen to find out.
3. February by Bhawna Jaimini (Poetry)
Don't let life get in the way of not being on your resolutions for this year.
Prove the poem wrong.
On the first Tuesday of February when the world appears absurdly quiet. Like it dropped dead from exhaustion after a month of playing pretence.
Tomorrow when it wakes up, everyone will shed the novelty of this year to settle into their own skin with certitude and confidence to leave the lure of discounted year long gym memberships.
Because it is February, the month of accepting the stubborn ways of human existence that need a little more than a new revolution around the sun to change.
4. On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send by Anandi Mishra on The Psyche (Essay)
When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone? Do you have pen pals?
I am a collector of postcards and if you don't have a pen pal, send me a text and maybe you will receive a postcard soon.
If you are looking for inspiration on why letter writing (more of writing letters to yourself) has become an archaic practice and yet holds it's place, read this essay.
Letter writing is probably the most beautiful manifestation in human relations, in fact, it is its finest residue. -- John Graham
5. In This Digital Age, Where Have All the Love Letters Gone? by Jami Attenberg on The Vogue (Article)
On the spirit of continuing one of the most intimate form of conversations - letter writing, read this piece. It is short and sweet and leaves you with a flood of possibilities and no certainty. Like life.
The wireless and the telephone have intervened. The letter writer has nothing now to build with except what is most private; and how monotonous after a page or two the intensity of the very private becomes!
6. The French Dispatch directed by Wes Anderson (Movie | Comedy/Romance)
If you have watched 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' you are already a fan of Anderson. If not, maybe start with this.
The French Dispatch is probably what you’d call an anthology film—which is to say it’s a compendium of several mini-films, unrelated topically but all connected somehow. It is equivalent to watching a magazine/reading a movie.
The French Dispatch contains an overwhelming and sumptuous profusion of details. This is true of its décor and costumes, its variety of narrative forms and its playful breaking of the dramatic frame being painfully candid all throughout.
A 100% recommend for a weekend movie retreat if you appreciate a marriage of art, literature, comedy and French essentials.
Here's a gush of podcast recommends for the week:
7. Margaret Atwood on The Tim Ferriss Show (Podcast)
From watching/reading The Handmaid's Tale to Alias Grace, I am a big fan of Atwood. If you don't know her, you are missing out on an grandiloquent amalgamation of dystopian + sci-fi writing.
Probably an epic podcast from Tim Ferriss after Neil Gaiman of course, something that Tim himself was waiting for.
On Creative Process, The Handmaid’s Tale, Being a Mercenary Child, Resisting Labels, Liminal Beings, Burning Questions, Practical Utopias & more.
8. Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway with Brené Brown on Unlocking Us (Podcast)
On Kara and Galloway's podcast Pivot, how they are reshaping the world through their podcast which is a mix of tech and business.
Scott Galloway offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics.
If you haven't subscribed to his newsletter, No Mercy/No Malice, you are missing on something big.
9. Tim Urban on Lex Fridman (Podcast)
The legend of immersive articles + mind=blown analysis + funny caricatures on his blog 'Wait But Why' along with the starrer of probably the most funny TED talk, Tim Urban delves deep with Lex on a variety of topics ranging from aliens, AI, Elon Musk, his creative process and so much more
10. Picking the right helmet on The Power Drift Podcast
I didn't know Automotive Journalism is a thing until I found out this podcast.
Being a beginner in the journey of a rider, I am slowly learning more about bikes (ADVs just for now) and Power Drift does a superb job at explaining things.
If you are someone who rides a bike or even a scooter and you think you know enough about helmets, this will prove you wrong.
Here's an assortment of newsletters/magazines to check out:
11. Boyish by Rajat Mittal (Newsletter)
A monthly newsletter expanding the discourse on masculinity in India
12. Technofeelia by The Believer Magazine (Interactive Comic)
A 101 on therapy but in an interactive long from comic
13. When the bad news is endless, here's how to cope with your anxiety on NPR Life Kit (Comic)
Been binging on NPR's graphic issues lately, yet to check out the podcast but comics are always a fun read
14. Gin, Television, and Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky (Essay/TED Talk)
A monumental piece published a decade ago about targeted content/advertising and how the world shaped up to where we are right now
Media that's targeted at you but doesn't include you may not be worth sitting still for.
15. The Little Prince directed by Mark Osborne (Animated Film)
A children's book published in the 1940s brought to life again in a film. Intense, thoughtfully dense, philosophical and imaginative- the story of a academic burdened life of a girl to finding her flight of fantasy through the story of The Little Prince from the Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne.
Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of the trees.
Ending this issue with this mural of a song I discovered:
(Pleaseeee, watch the video)
Above All Else, Be Kind by AJIMAL
There is a dark that light can't kill Within the blinding fear it fills If I were huddling for warmth, who'd clean my clothes? Who'd share their blankets? Or would I freeze alone?
This is not difficult or radical This is fundamental. This is pivotal. This is the most important:
Be kind, be gentle Be mild, be simple Be patient, be peaceful But above all else, be kind
Thanks for reading. I hope you have enough content to check out until I see you again :)
Wishing you a marvelous March!
As always, I appreciate your feedback (suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement) as well ideas that inspire you, reading/podcast recommendations etc.
You can write to me on bhumikasankhla12@gmail.com. or connect with me on IG at _i__cook or use the comment section!
(I am running on crazy study schedules, so there might be a delay in response but I assure you that I will get back )